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More than 15,000 family doctors are earning more than £100,000 a year, official figures show, with soaring numbers receiving more than £250,000 annually.

New data shows that average pay for a GP partner is now £101,500 – a rise of 1.7 per cent during 2014/15, as the NHS plunged into deficit.

The figures for England include 15,190 GPs earning more than £100,000, of whom 660 received at least £200,000, with 180 paid more than £250,000 in total. The previous year, 14,910 family doctors received six-figure earnings, with 560 passing the £200,000 mark, and 150 on at least £250,000.

The previous year, average earnings for GP partners fell below £100,000 for the first time since Labour introduced a generous contract more than a decade ago.

The deal meant family doctors received a pay hike of almost one quarter, under terms which were later criticised for allowing GPs to provide far less care out-of-hours.

Under the contract, which paid doctors for hitting a succession of targets, average pay peaked at £110,000 in 2005/6.

Since then it had steadily reduced, amid changes to the pay arrangements for GPs, with less income linked to targets, in recent years.

But the new figures show those trends changed in 2014/15, with a significant increase in earnings for the average GP, as the NHS deficit rose from £115m to £822m.

Most family doctors work as independent contractors, where earnings rose. But for those who receive a salary from the NHS, earnings fell, by 2.1 per cent.

It comes amid record shortages of GPs and rising waiting lists to secure an appointment.

One in 8 posts for GPs are vacant, and the number of patients waiting at least a week to see a family doctor has risen by almost one third in three years.

Joyce Robins, from Patient Concern, said: “The situation is a total mess, and I’m not sure that throwing these enormous sums of money at it is helping. It is getting really difficult to see a GP these days, and the number of doctors working part-time makes that even harder.

Just one in ten trainee GPs intends to work full-time in clinical practice, a Kings Fund study foundCredit:
Alamy

Researchers said family doctors were turning away from full-time clinical work because of the “intensity” of their workload, and a fear of “burnout”.

In just five years, the number of patient consultations has risen by 15 per cent – three times the rate of increase in the number of GPs, it found.

Family doctors are dealing with higher numbers of very frail elderly patients, with a 28 per cent rise in cases over 85, the study found.

It also found rising dissatisfaction among the public, with polling of almost 1 million patients showing 79.3 per cent said their doctor gave them enough time, compared with 84.9 per cent five years ago. Meanwhile 77.2 per cent said they were treated with care – a fall from 82.6 per cent five years ago.

Research has shown a sharp increase in the numbers facing long waits to see a GP.

A BMA spokesman said: “These figures show a very marginal average increase that is unlikely to be felt by many GPs. It comes after a decade of falling GP income which has been squeezed by rising practice expenses and inflation at the same time as rapidly rising workload with GPs seeing more patients than ever before.”